During the short hearing Mower, who was wearing a loud Christmas necktie, was asked about his background by the judge.

"I'm now in customer service," he told the judge. Neither he nor his lawyer, dean Popkin, would comment as they later left the courthouse.

Under the plea bargain Mower could get up to three years in prison when he is sentenced on Feb. 15 but his lawyer can argue for a lesser term.

Senior Assistant State's Attorney Cornelius Kelly told the judge Mower has made some restitution but it is far short of the money he took.

According to the arrest warrant affidavit of Detective George Vann, on Aug. 23 detectives were called to the offices of the Trefz Corp on Middle Street on a complaint of an embezzlement.

Christian and Ernie Trefz told detectives they had just discovered that Mower had been stealing from the hotel, the affidavit states.

The affidavit continues that a review of the hotel's accounts showed that between July 2009 and August 23 of this year Mower had been converting booking payments made through the Holiday Inn reservation system and various Internet travel sites such as Hotel.com for his personal use. The affidavit states that Mower was also taking non refundable deposits from cancelled banquet function for a total theft of $78,440.51.

Police said when they confronted Mower he confessed to taking the money.

"I'm going through a rough patch and didn't know what else to do. I took the money to pay bills," police said he told them.